Reading Rockets - Reading aloudhttp://www.readingrockets.org/keywords/reading-aloud
enCreating an Effective Book Buddies Program: No More Magical Thinkinghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/creating-effective-book-buddies-program-no-more-magical-thinking
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Creating an Effective Book Buddies Program: No More Magical Thinking</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-10-06T12:00:00-04:00">October 6, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><strong>Teacher question:</strong></p>
<p><em>I am a reading specialist at a K-5 elementary school and I am working with classroom teachers to implement a book buddy program where older students (2nd and 3rd grade) will read to younger students (K and 1st grade). I am planning to spend some time with the older students to coach them on selecting appropriate books and engaging their buddies by reading with prosody and stopping to ask questions, make observations, etc. I would love to hear if you have done any research on the effectiveness of such programs or if you have any tips on how to make book buddies beneficial for all involved. Our primary goal is to inspire kids to read and share books together, and in the process, we hope our students will become better readers. Thanks so much!</em></p>
<p><strong>Shanahan's response:</strong></p>
<p>If what you do motivates kids to read more on their own that would be great. Unfortunately, we don’t know an awful lot about that.</p>
<p>There isn’t an extensive research base that reveals effective ways of getting kids to like reading or do more independent reading. We have lots of opinions, of course, but not lots of knowledge.</p>
<p>Researchers have usually ignored these issues. When they have taken these issues on, they’ve usually been so ensorcelled with the reading achievement gains they’re so certain are going to result from their efforts that they don’t pay much attention to whether their wonderful encouragement scheme is … well, encouraging.</p>
<p>Few studies on reading motivation even consider whether the free pizzas, book floods, extra reading time, mentoring, and so on will entice kids to read more. Or, if there is more reading, whether it persists.</p>
<p>Thus, when their wonderful handy dandy motivational regime fails to raise reading ability — and in most cases that is the outcome — we can’t tell whether it even should have. Let’s face it, if your book buddy program fails to instigate more reading, then there’d be no reason to think it would make better readers.</p>
<p>An unfortunate research exception was the Summers &amp; McClelland study (1982) that looked at the impact of a sustained silent reading (SSR) program on a large sample of Canadian middle schoolers. The idea was to give kids free reading time regularly within the school day to allure them into a love of reading. The kids would pick books that they’d get to read independently during the school day.</p>
<p>Summers and McClelland not only found no evident learning payoff from this, but the kids’ reading diaries (a rarity in such research) revealed that the practice led to less reading, not more. Gadzooks!</p>
<p>What you’re planning to do is so much better — both pedagogically and motivationally.</p>
<p>And, instead of buying into the automatic motivation fallacy (the idea that however we encourage reading will automatically increase the amount of reading that kids do), you are starting out trying to find ways of ensuring success. </p>
<p>One of the real pluses of your plan is its social nature. I know this will surprise some teachers, but requiring someone to read for fun may be anything but.</p>
<p>Studies of motivation typically do not find that people are inspired or incented by isolation — but children, especially poor readers, often remark on the aloneness of reading.</p>
<p>A big motivator for most people is the social connection and your plan is rich in that. What you’re trying to do might be fun for the kids, either because it allows the older ones to feel like big shots since they get to be model readers for the younger ones, or because it’s cool for the youngers to get to hobnob with the older ones. </p>
<p>So far, so good.</p>
<p>My concerns are two-fold. One, will the reading activities provide any real opportunities to learn (we are talking about school time here)? Two, will the kids make a motivational connection between the fun activity that you are providing and the idea of reading more on their own when they are away from school?</p>
<p>It would be great to have both of these, but I’d settle for one.</p>
<p>Let’s think about the learning opportunities first.</p>
<p>Research hasn’t found much payoff — in terms of reading improvement — from being read to at these ages. There are several studies at a variety of ages showing some oral vocabulary growth, however.</p>
<p>Most of the studies of reading to kids have been done with preschoolers and kindergartners (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). Those studies have consistently found improvements in oral vocabulary on measures like the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). It’s possible that PPVT gains would translate into better reading, but performance on the PPVT is only modestly connected to reading ability.</p>
<p>There are few studies of the impacts of reading to kids once they enter school. But those haven’t found reading gains either (Senechal, 2006).</p>
<p>That means that I wouldn’t bet on reading improvement for the younger students from book buddies, though there is a reason to think that they could become familiar with unknown vocabulary or valuable content.</p>
<p>What about the elders?</p>
<p>Things are more promising on that end. Studies do show that oral reading fluency practice can make for better readers. For that to work, the texts must be hard enough initially that there is room for improvement. Then, the students should read the texts aloud multiple times — in this case, rehearsing for their performance for the youngers. I like the purposefulness of that.</p>
<p>The most certain payoff will come from texts that the younger kids would be able to learn from (e.g., unknown vocabulary, valuable but unknown content) and enjoy (to keep the activity itself fun and to advertise reading effectively). But those same texts need to be demanding enough that the elders can’t read them well on a first try — though not so hard that they can’t read them fluently and well eventually.</p>
<p>I’d suggest you guide the elders to texts that are sufficiently challenging in terms of their current reading ability, but that have rich content and language that will push the youngers a bit. Then let the elders select from those the ones they think would be the most enjoyable.</p>
<p>Then the older readers must practice reading these texts aloud — that’s the fluency work. That practice, reading and rereading the texts until they can read them well enough that the youngers would enjoy the experience is where the learning will come for the elders.</p>
<p>Several years ago we helped out with a program in which children read to dogs (SitStayRead). It was just goofy enough an idea to be intriguing. The kids loved reading to the dogs, but their learning payoff came from their willingness to practice prior to sharing with the canines. Without that practice — rereading a book until they could read it well — they would not have improved their ability to read.</p>
<p>The idea of having the elders question or discuss the texts with the youngers is a good one. Make sure some of that emphasizes unknown vocabulary in the texts. Perhaps you and the teachers could help the elders to identify some keywords worth teaching. The learning payoffs to the youngsters are most likely to result from their increasing knowledge of the text content and vocabulary. </p>
<p>You might consider providing partner training for the youngers, too. What does it mean to be a good book buddy who is being read to? Paying attention, showing gratitude, asking questions about the book that connects with the reader, etc. Maybe the younger readers could participate in the reading, too, trying to read a page or paragraph to the older partner?</p>
<p>Another idea might be occasional meetings of both groups along with the teachers. These meetings may be useful for connecting reading with the children’s lives outside of school. Does being a book buddy make you want to read more on your own? Instead of just assuming that the paired reading experience will lead to more outside reading, you might want to try to salt that mine a bit. (The idea that the read alouds might tip one off to a particular reading interest, or that aspiring to be a book buddy by going home and reading to a younger sibling or teddy bear might not occur to everyone on their own). </p>
<p>Finally, I know I’m recommending a lot of teaching here, and yet, I’d stress the importance of keeping it fun.</p>
<p>I see three potential sources of motivation here:</p>
<ol>
<li>Curiosity — kids can work with cool texts that they will enjoy or learn from. Content should be king.</li>
<li>Collaboration — kids get the payoff of working with other kids: The book buddies get to hang with each other of course, but you could also build in some collaborative work for the older ones for their preparation time. Maybe partner them up to practice their fluency or to come up with their text questions.</li>
<li>It is possible that the fluency and vocabulary work will have a positive impact on the kids’ reading achievement. It is easier to like reading if you can read well.</li>
</ol>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/fluency" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fluency</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/vocabulary" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vocabulary</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Fri, 06 Oct 2017 16:09:18 +0000tchovanec141922 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/creating-effective-book-buddies-program-no-more-magical-thinking#commentsTake Reading Outsidehttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/take-reading-outside
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Take Reading Outside</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-08-21T17:15:00-04:00">August 21, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><div class="imgleft">
<div class="left"><img src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/kballenger.jpg" /></div>
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<p>Story can do a lot to inspire kids to engage with the natural world. What can you do to get kids outside? Kit Ballenger has some ideas that all start with a book!</p>
<p>Kit is a youth services librarian at <a href="http://www.anopenbookfound.org/" target="_blank">An Open Book Foundation</a> and a regular volunteer at the Library of Congress Young Readers Center. An avid hiker and backpacker, she always has a book in tow and reads every night before bedtime, even by headlamp in a sleeping bag.</p>
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<p>Nothing says bedtime like sharing a good story, but who says we have to take the “bed” part so seriously? The Washington, DC region offers evening and overnight adventures for kids of all ages, so start with a book and let it lead you to some end-of-summer fun in the great outdoors!</p>
<h2>Evening adventures</h2>
<p>Regional Park Rangers and naturalists offer <strong>free and low-cost evening programs</strong> that include storytime and, often, hands-on interactions that heighten your child’s reading experience. Check out a few books on <a href="http://www.startwithabook.org/booklists/bugs-birds-and-animals" target="_blank">Bugs, Birds, and Animals</a>, then encourage your child to try her hand at writing poems about them — like those in the lovely picture book <em>Cricket in the Thicket</em>, by Carol Murray and Melissa Sweet, or former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis’s <em>Face Bug</em>.</p>
<p>Once the sun sets, you can listen together for your favorite critters or let a naturalist help guide young ears during a <a href="https://parks.arlingtonva.us/events/night-insects-campfire/" target="_blank">Night Insects Campfire</a>. Share a few books about diurnal versus nocturnal animals, like Wendell Minor’s <em>Daylight Starlight Wildlife</em> and William Low’s <em>Daytime Nighttime</em>, and then encourage your child to test out their night vision on a <a href="https://parks.arlingtonva.us/events/nocturnal-senses-night-hike/" target="_blank">Nocturnal Senses Night Hike</a>. Both programs and others (like <a href="https://parks.arlingtonva.us/events/bat-fest-arlington-2/" target="_blank">Bat Fest</a>!) are offered at Arlington County’s <a href="http://arlingtonparks.us/snag/mobile/index.html#p=1" target="_blank">Long Branch Nature Center</a> throughout the year.</p>
<p><img alt="Nature books" src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/kit-bugsbirdsanimals.jpg" /></p>
<h2>Tent reading</h2>
<p>Is your reader ready to <strong>extend an evening outing into an overnight</strong>? Beloved friends like Curious George, Flat Stanley, Amelia Bedelia, and Olivia can help prepare your early reader to make the most of an introductory camping trip. Elementary-aged children will appreciate the multigenerational mishaps of Tamera Will Wissinger’s <em>Gone Camping: A Novel in Verse</em> or Lenore Look’s ever-reluctant second-grader <em>Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters</em>.</p>
<p>And, while no one would wish upon them the necessary survival efforts in Gary Paulson’s <em>Hatchet</em> or Jean Craighead George’s <em>Julie of the Wolves</em>, middle grade readers revel in the intensity of such modern and enduring wilderness classics. Have a teen who is a little more Wild than Walden? Offer YA titles like Wendelin Van Draanen’s <em>Wild Bird</em>, or the forthcoming <em>Feral Youth</em>, by Shaun David Hutchinson et al.</p>
<p><img alt="Camping books" src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/kit-camping.jpg" /></p>
<h2>Camps, cabins, and cottages</h2>
<p>If tents put you a little too close to nature for your taste, consider <strong>camping at one of several sheltered sites</strong> in the area. <a href="http://www.thetreehousecamp.com/" target="_blank">The Treehouse Camp</a> offers easy proximity to Harper’s Ferry and the Appalachian Trail; <a href="https://www.novaparks.com/cabins-camping/cabins-cottages" target="_blank">cabins or cottages</a> are available within three Northern Virginia Regional Parks; and you can even reserve a <a href="http://www.canaltrust.org/programs/canal-quarters/" target="_blank">lockhouse</a> along the C&amp;O Canal to transport your young reader back in time. Share Patricia MacLaughlan’s <em>Sarah, Plain and Tall</em> by lantern light and imagine prairie life, or settle in for the evening as early Virginia Colonists did in Elisa Carbone’s <em>Blood on the River</em>.</p>
<p>Visit the WPA-constructed cabins at <a href="https://www.recreation.gov/camping/camp-misty-mount/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&amp;parkId=72159" target="_blank">Camp Misty Mount</a>&nbsp;in the Catoctin Mountains during the summer months and, if you’re lucky, the National Park Service’s seasonal Park Ranger Dwight James (an elementary school teacher the rest of the year) will handle storytime for you, reading aloud a few picture books after an architectural introduction to the historical Dining Hall. For a greater appreciation of our protected parklands, bring along <em>The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks</em>, by Barbara Rosenstock.</p>
<center><img align="middle" alt="Park Ranger reading aloud" src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/kit-parkranger.jpg" />
<p><em>Evening storytime with National Park Service Ranger Dwight James<br />
at Camp Misty Mount. (Photo courtesy of M. Thomas)</em></p>
</center>
<h2>Dusk and sundown adventures</h2>
<p><strong>Not ready for night time in the woods? </strong>No problem! Set the mood with a simple picnic dinner or, if you’re feeling ambitious, let everyone roast their own hot dogs over a campfire or grill. You’ll respect the efforts of an al fresco meal even more after reading Annette Bay Pimental’s <em>Mountain Chef</em>! Grills and picnic tables can be reserved at any number of local recreation areas including <a href="https://www.recreation.gov/camping/rock-creek-park-group-picnic-areas/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&amp;parkId=111896" target="_blank">Rock Creek Park</a>, <a href="http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/picnics/burke.htm" target="_blank">Burke Lake</a>, and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/anac/planyourvisit/picnicking-and-grilling.htm" target="_blank">Anacostia Park</a>, among others. On the trip over, appreciate the urban beauty as does the child in JonArno Lawson’s <em>Sidewalk Flowers</em> and, as the sun sets, poke a few holes in the lid of a Mason jar and catch fireflies to study while you marvel at the exceptional photographs and sparse poetry of Helen Frost’s <em>Among a Thousand Fireflies</em>.</p>
<p>If an afternoon shower scuttles your plans, move indoors and use April Pulley Sayre’s <em>Raindrops Roll</em> as the inspiration for an up-close examination of the water cycle at work. Build a fort using a table and a few sheets then, after dinner, you can retreat to your “tent” to share stories there by flashlight. Before bedtime, step outside to marvel at the darkened sky with Mordicai Gerstein’s <em>The Night World</em>.</p>
<p><img alt="Going outside books" src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/kit-outside.jpg" /></p>
<h2>Every kid in a park!</h2>
<p>The fun doesn’t have to end with Labor Day. Did you know that all fourth graders (and their families!) enjoy free access for a year to National Parks and other fee areas? The online application for <a href="https://www.everykidinapark.gov/" target="_blank">Every Kid in a Park</a> is quick and can be done for individual children or by teachers on behalf of their classrooms. For a big city, Washington DC offers abundant opportunities to escape to the outdoors year round with a good book in hand. Happy reading, wherever you do it!</p>
<center><img align="middle" alt="Reading in the hammock" src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/kit-hammock.jpg" />
<p><em>Summer reading is more relaxing in the great outdoors.<br />
(Author’s photo)</em></p>
</center>
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</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/activities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Activities</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/authors-illustrators" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Authors &amp; illustrators</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/background-knowledge" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Background knowledge</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/childrens-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Children&#039;s books</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/content-area" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Content area</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/content-area-literacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Content Area Literacy</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/libraries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Libraries</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/parent-engagement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Parent engagement</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-together" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading together</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/stem-literacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">STEM literacy</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/summer-reading" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Summer reading</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Mon, 21 Aug 2017 21:12:15 +0000tchovanec141627 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/take-reading-outside#commentsWhat’s in a flag?http://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/page-page/what-s-flag
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>What’s in a flag?</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-08-15T14:15:00-04:00">August 15, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>What do you see when you look at an American flag? What do its colors, stars and stripes call to mind?</p>
<p>“Blue sky/White Stars …”, red and white rows evoke more than simply a flag. It can represent a country’s landscape, its history, and most important, the people who together create one nation, beautiful in their diversity.</p>
<p>The author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0803737009/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Blue Sky White Stars</a><em> </em>(Dial), Saravinder Naberhaus, wrote the poetic text as “a parallel between America and its flag; the same words describe both.”&nbsp; Kadir Nelson’s luminous paintings interpret the words in richly colored, evocative paintings, juxtaposed on opposing pages or spreading across double pages. Together words and image present a celebration of the United States.</p>
<p>In the illustrator’s note, Nelson says, “The American flag is a shining symbol that calls us to remember that we have the potential to uphold the promise of ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,’ together. Only together.”</p>
<p><img alt="Blue Sky White Stars" src="http://www.readingrockets.org/images/blogs/bluesky-whitestars.jpg" /></p>
<p>The anger and outright hatred of recent events cannot be ignored. Our country’s complicated and sometimes ugly history has early and lasting effects. Racism and other prejudices’ impact our children early; <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/06/09/harvard-researcher-says-children-learn-racism-quickly/gWuN1ZG3M40WihER2kAfdK/story.html" target="_blank">negative biases become evident in children as young as 3 and 4 years old</a>.</p>
<p>Environment can counter this, starting with the way children see adults behave toward others. We can help our children think more critically about things that we know are hurtful (ever heard something like “girls can’t do math” or “boys don’t wear pink”?). The better we know other people from different backgrounds, the less likely our children are to view them as “other” — those who look or pray differently.</p>
<p>The chance to meet people with varied backgrounds may not be easy in some places — and this is where books become crucial. They allow children and their significant adults to meet people from other places, other times, other cultures, and more. Books — like <em>Blue Sky White Stars </em>— can start a meaningful discussion between adults and children.</p>
<p>But it starts with adults. I only hope that it starts soon.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/authors-illustrators" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Authors &amp; illustrators</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/background-knowledge" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Background knowledge</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/childrens-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Children&#039;s books</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/content-area" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Content area</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/content-area-literacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Content Area Literacy</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/libraries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Libraries</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/multicultural" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Multicultural</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/parent-engagement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Parent engagement</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-together" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading together</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Tue, 15 Aug 2017 18:24:00 +0000tchovanec141616 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/page-page/what-s-flag#commentsPreventing the Summer Slide in Military Families: The Importance of Reading Aloudhttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/preventing-summer-slide-military-families-importance-reading-aloud
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Preventing the Summer Slide in Military Families: The Importance of Reading Aloud</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-08-08T16:45:00-04:00">August 8, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><div class="intro">
<p>Parents play a major role in stimulating developing minds and building literacy skills and children who read aloud with their parents reap numerous benefits. But for children and parents who are physically separated, it is difficult to read aloud together and build bonds around books. Our friends at <a href="http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/" target="_blank">United Through Reading</a> share how establishing reading routines help support summer reading, particularly for those families who face the challenge of military deployment.</p>
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<p>Although summer means fun in the sun for many families, it also presents a seasonal challenge to educators and parents trying to prevent the "summer slide" — a time when kids run the risk of losing the valuable information they learned during the school year. Parents all over the country try to combat this problem and many struggle to keep their children engaged during summer break. For military parents, <a href="http://www.readingrockets.org/article/summer-loss">summer learning loss</a> becomes an even greater challenge when one parent is deployed and the other is left to be the sole champion of summertime education.</p>
<p>It all starts with establishing and maintaining routines as a family. Making reading time a priority in the home encourages good reading habits in children and leads to a greater interest in books and literacy, which can make summer reading a bit easier on parents. As most parents know, helping kids form positive habits doesn’t happen overnight. However, connecting reading with another special experience can aid engagement. For military children, this transformation starts with one video, one book, and one very special memory.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/" target="_blank">United Through Reading (UTR)</a> is a nonprofit that connects families through the read aloud experience and they work to encourage literacy in military children year-round, including during those high-risk months for learning loss during the summer; UTR allows military service members deployed around the world the ability to record themselves reading books aloud on video, and then send the video and book back home for their kids to view and read along.</p>
<p><img alt="United Through Reading parent reading book" src="/images/blogs/utr-parent1.jpg" /></p>
<p>The experience of reading with children goes beyond just the story narration. Reading aloud builds background knowledge, expands vocabulary, and supports comprehension. The read-aloud experience provided by United Through Reading <a href="http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/staying-together-oceans-apart/" target="_blank">allows deployed parents to be active participants</a>, and strong examples, helping to foster a love of reading and supporting the development of critical literacy skills.</p>
<p>For the Applen family, father and Airman Eric created longer videos for his two children. He read books like <a href="http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-adventure-pack-where-wild-things-are">Where the Wild Things Are</a> and <a href="http://www.readingrockets.org/article/cause-and-effect">If You Give a Mouse a Cookie</a> and as he turned the pages he would often paused during the story to ask his children what they thought, or offer commentary before and after the story to help make this time a stronger learning — and bonding — experience. “As soon as I made a video and sent it, I was always anxiously waiting for the response from back home,” Eric shared. “The feeling I had was that I felt very connected with my children, forgetting that I was thousands and thousands of miles away. It almost felt like I went home for the evening, read a story and then left.”</p>
<p>For many military families, UTR helps take the guesswork out of maintaining reading engagement over the summer, creating a special time to see and hear their parents. Cultivating a love of learning through reading aloud has academic and emotional benefits. In fact, many UTR families notice an increase in their children’s independent reading and love of books with a regular story time in place.</p>
<p><img alt="United Through Reading family" src="/images/blogs/utr-family.jpg" /></p>
<p>No matter the season, UTR is able to ensure that these military families maintain strong bonds. This is no easy task — 100,000 parents deployed annually means military children will experience approximately 180 nights without their deployed parent home for a bedtime story. That translates to nearly 40 million bedtime stories missed. With the goal of delivering 10 million otherwise missed stories in 2017, UTR recently launched the <a href="http://40millionstories.org/" target="_blank">40 Million Stories campaign</a>.</p>
<p>Families all over the nation need to keep their noses in books this summer, continuing to grow kids’ curiously and spark their interest in the wonderful world of reading. Families like the Applens can not only enjoy Airman Eric’s video storytimes again and again, but use them to launch summer learning investigations around cookies and other <a href="http://www.startwithabook.org/booklists/cooking-and-food" target="_blank">food</a> or learn about real <a href="http://www.startwithabook.org/booklists/bugs-birds-and-animals" target="_blank">wild things</a>.</p>
<p>What are you doing to stay reading and learning with your family this summer?</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/content-area" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Content area</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/content-area-literacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Content Area Literacy</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/families-schools" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Families &amp; schools</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/parent-engagement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Parent engagement</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">no</div></div></section>Tue, 08 Aug 2017 20:49:47 +0000tchovanec141569 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/preventing-summer-slide-military-families-importance-reading-aloud#commentsEverything You Wanted to Know about Repeated Readinghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/everything-you-wanted-know-about-repeated-reading
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Everything You Wanted to Know about Repeated Reading</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-08-04T16:45:00-04:00">August 4, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>We’re in the dog days of summer. Not many questions coming in right now — normal for periods when schools aren’t in session. But the following query came to me this week from Ireland via Twitter.</p>
<p><strong>Teacher question:</strong></p>
<p><em>Any link to how the <em>Repeated Reading</em> strategy works? How long text can be repeated, how long can text be, depends on accuracy?</em><em>&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><strong>Shanahan’s response:</strong></p>
<p>This is such a basic question that I was gobsmacked by it. These are just the kinds of queries that I love to respond to on this site: Topics that many teachers assume they know about, but that often turn out to be full of surprises.</p>
<p>The idea of repeated reading emerged in the late 1970s … as a result of the writings of S. Jay Samuels (1979) and Carol Chomsky (1978). They found, in separate studies, that engaging kids in repeatedly reading texts aloud improved reading ability. It was kind of a no-brainer that such approaches were beneficial by the time the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) concluded that they were (that portion of the report was written by Jay Samuels and me — and even he was a bit taken aback by how that work had proceeded since when he’d first written about it).</p>
<p>Multitasking is essential to good reading.</p>
<p>Scientific studies (e.g., LaBerge &amp; Samuels, 1976) revealed the importance of “automaticity” to reading. Readers have to be able to decode without thinking about decoding. We only have so much thinking space available. The more cognitive space devoted to figuring out words, the less available to grasp the text's meaning. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Samuel’s idea of repeated reading was that it could help readers to gain automaticity. He thought it would help readers to master the art of reading words accurately and with sufficient speed.</p>
<p>When children are learning to read, they initially struggle to read words accurately. That is very common in Grade 1. These students then often gain mastery over accuracy at the expense of speed — such accurate but slow reading tends to emerge in Grade 2 (Morris, 1999). Samuels’ goal was to build accuracy and speed to a point where comprehension would be possible. The more efficient the reading of the words, the more that readers' attention could be turned to meaning.</p>
<p>Carol Chomsky (1978) had a similar notion of the problem. She thought there was a subgroup of poor readers who “knew” phonics — that is, they knew the letters and sounds and could decode words reasonably well. However, these strugglers couldn't apply these skills fluently during the reading of a text.</p>
<p>Chomsky believed that this special group of readers might benefit from reading texts aloud repeatedly&nbsp;since it would give them essential practice in applying those known skills.</p>
<p>Samuels and Chomsky both reported research studies that had positive results, as have many other researchers since that time.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>What specifically is “Repeated Reading?”</h3>
<p>Repeated Reading is a particular method proposed by S. Jay Samuels to develop decoding automaticity with struggling readers. In this approach, students are asked to read aloud short text passages (50-200 words) until they reach a criterion level of success (particular speed and accuracy goals).</p>
<p>However, research shows there are many ways that teachers can successfully exploit the idea of repeated oral reading, so I’ll talk about “repeated reading” here (rather than Repeated Reading).</p>
<h3>What are some of those other ways of doing repeated reading?</h3>
<p>In Chomsky’s scheme, the kids listened to audiotapes of a text and then worked on making their own tapes — trying to match the quality of the originals. Reading while listening or echo reading works too, as does Radio Reading (in which kids work with scripts — making the oral reading purposeful), and Neurological Impress (don’t ask).</p>
<p>All of these schemes include oral reading. They also all include reading the texts multiple times (either to a particular quality criterion, such as a particular number of words correct per minute — or a set number of repetitions, usually 3).</p>
<h3>What's the goal of such instruction, to get kids to read fast?</h3>
<p>No, the goal is to get students to read the author’s words accurately, to read&nbsp;texts&nbsp;at about the speed of oral language, and to make this reading sound like language (pausing in the right places so that ithe text makes sense).</p>
<h3>What is the outcome of such practice?</h3>
<p>Repeated reading usually leads to better reading performance. The biggest payoffs tend to be with word reading, but it also has been found to improve oral reading fluency and reading comprehension (the most frequently reported area of improvement). This comprehension finding surprised Jay Samuels. Remember the comprehension impact should be indirect — through word reading improvement. He was shocked that so many researchers failed to include word reading measures in their studies, even though they always tested reading comprehension. There was a very good chance that such studies would have found no differences in comprehension and would have, therefore, concluded that repeated reading didn’t work. Fortunately, the comprehension payoffs were large enough and consistent enough that it didn't turn out to be a problem.</p>
<h3>Were there special kids who needed repeated reading?</h3>
<p>The research suggests that part of Chomsky's theory was wrong. Studies of repeated reading sometimes aimed at these special "average phonics skills but low reading" kids, and other times they just focused on all readers in regular classrooms. The results were exactly the same: repeated reading improved reading ability across the board.</p>
<h3>How many re-readings should kids be doing?</h3>
<p>The research suggests that three readings should be sufficient so I would limit it to that. Three readings and it is time to move on to another text.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>How long should the passages be?</h3>
<p>Samuels used passages of 50-200 words; with the shorter texts used with the students with the lowest reading abilities. That makes sense to me. In classroom reading practice, that would be like a page or two in a primary grade reader. It is important to keep the texts&nbsp;brief for this work so that when students reread, memory becomes a useful scaffold. The longer the text, the harder to carry over what was figured out on the first reading. (Joe Torgesen has emphasized the importance of using texts that share a lot of vocabulary. That way, when a student improves with one text, it is certain to immediately carry over to the next.)</p>
<h3>How challenging should the texts be?</h3>
<p>The texts used for fluency practice should be at students’ so-called “frustration levels.” If students don’t make many mistakes with a text (say 10 or more per hundred words), then the repetition is unlikely to improve their reading very much.</p>
<h3>What about integrating comprehension work into this kind of fluency practice?</h3>
<p>Some of the repeated reading routines have included a comprehension component, such as asking students a different question at the conclusion of each reading or having the student complete some kind of comprehension task each time. Other approaches do not do this. The research says that repeated reading pays off, whether there is a comprehension step or not. I'd include one under the well-known scientific precept: “It couldn’t hurt.”</p>
<h3>How can a teacher listen to a whole classroom full of kids?</h3>
<p>I recommend paired reading. Have one youngster read to another. Then they switch. While this practice is going on, the teacher circulates among the students listening to several one-at-a-time and giving feedback.</p>
<h3>What about silent reading?</h3>
<p>Silent reading should also take place regularly — I try to provide both an oral reading fluency period and a reading comprehension period daily. In the latter, except with beginners, the reading is silent. There are also a couple of studies in which kids read silently while a computer monitored their reading that has led to fluency improvement (Rasinski, Samuels, Hiebert, Petcher, &amp; Feller, 2011).</p>
<h3>What about round robin reading? We do “popcorn” in my class?</h3>
<p>Schemes in which one child reads aloud and the rest of the students wait their turn are lousy. They don’t allow much oral reading; simply not enough practice to foster improvement. This is because only one child reads at a time. Second, repeated reading is very rare in round robin, making learning unlikely. Third, you may get pushback; kids who read poorly may refuse to read — something that never occurs when everyone is doing the reading.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/comprehension" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Comprehension</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/fluency" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fluency</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:49:17 +0000tchovanec141560 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/everything-you-wanted-know-about-repeated-reading#commentsRap n’ readhttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/page-page/rap-n-read
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Rap n’ read</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-08-01T12:45:00-04:00">August 1, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Bedtime books come in all styles, sizes, and mediums; some rhyme, others tell stories. Some do both. In other words, there’s something for everyone. Add the sharing and books become even more individualized.</p>
<p>One day not long ago, my son turned up the volume on his phone so I could hear his music. Ok, I said, it’s a rap. He told me to listen carefully. When I did, I hooted with delight. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEcZ8em__ZQ&amp;spfreload=5”" target="_blank">Kid Ink</a>, one of Nick’s favorite rappers, was performing the words to Anna Dewdney’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Llama-Red-Pajama-Anna-Dewdney/dp/0670059838" target="_blank">Llama Llama Red Pajama</a> (Viking).</p>
<p>When I did a brief online search for a video of it, not only did I find Kid Ink in a radio station booth “freestyling”, I also found another rendition of the same book read (rapped really) by another contemporary artist, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv9aChvlp24" target="_blank">Ludacris</a>.</p>
<p>The simple rhythm of <em>Llama Llama Red Pajama</em> is obvious. But there’s a rhythm to <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-minds/201701/the-music-reading-aloud" target="_blank">reading aloud almost anything</a>. “There [is] a melody [when pitch goes up and down] …. There [is] musical phrasing and color… emphasis in the right places. There [is] a rhythmic timing — you could more-or-less clap your hands to the words as you read aloud.”</p>
<p>True of almost any book but it’s fun to interpret a book in a distinctive way.&nbsp; Just like Kid Ink and Ludicris did with <em>Llama Llama Red Pajama.</em></p>
<p>I don’t know if either man has children with whom to share this, but their pleasure in <em>Llama Llama Red Pajama</em> is apparent. It reminded me that regardless of what book is shared with a child, it’s an experience for the adult as well as for children. The more the adult likes the material, the more likely they are to share it with enthusiasm; and that pleasure is contagious.</p>
<p>(And thanks to Nick Brennan for introducing me to Kid Ink!)</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/childrens-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Children&#039;s books</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Tue, 01 Aug 2017 18:28:20 +0000tchovanec141534 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/page-page/rap-n-read#commentsJoin Little Free Library’s Action Book Club (And You Could Win Free Books!)http://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/join-little-free-library-s-action-book-club-and-you-could-win-free-books
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Join Little Free Library’s Action Book Club (And You Could Win Free Books!)</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-07-07T13:15:00-04:00">July 7, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><div class="imgleft">
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<p>Sometimes we need a reminder that big changes in our world often start with small actions. Books can be that perfect reminder, especially for kids who connect with a particular character or find inspiration in fiction and nonfiction about ordinary people who stand up for what's right.</p>
<p>Here’s <a href="http://www.margretaldrich.com/" target="_blank">Margret Aldrich</a>, champion of Little Free Libraries and author of <em>The Little Free Library Book</em> to share how you can start with a book and take positive actions in your own community this summer.</p>
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<p>Have you ever spotted a <a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/" target="_blank">Little Free Library</a> when on a walk, bike ride, or Sunday drive? The friendly neighborhood book exchanges—which often resemble charming, oversized birdhouses — are inspiring kids and adults to read books and give back all over the world.</p>
<p>The first Little Free Library was built in Hudson, Wisconsin, in 2009 by Todd H. Bol as a tribute to his mother, who was an educator and lifelong reader. When Bol saw how his neighbors reacted to the small structure, and how meaningfully it brought the community together, he knew he wanted to share this simple concept with the rest of the planet.</p>
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<p>Fast forward to 2017, and there are now nearly 60,000 Little Free Libraries worldwide, in all 50 states and 70 different countries, from Armenia and Iceland to Vietnam and Brazil. They stand in the tiny towns of Iowa and Idaho as well as the metropolises of New York and Los Angeles, and they welcome readers of all ages and backgrounds.</p>
<p>I first came to the Little Free Library concept as an editor at <em>Utne Reader</em>, then as the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Little-Free-Library-Books-Action/dp/1566894077" target="_blank">The Little Free Library Book</a>, and now as part of the Little Free Library nonprofit team. In talking with hundreds of Little Free Library owners, known as “stewards,” I am continually impressed by the way Little Free Libraries can build community, spark creativity, and bring out the best in people. In addition, it’s amazing to know that millions of books are exchanged in Little Free Libraries each year, profoundly increasing access to books for countless readers.</p>
<p>Kids are often the most enthusiastic users of Little Free Libraries. At my own Little Library in Minneapolis, I love to see the look of surprise on a child’s face when they discover our neighborhood book box, and the excitement they show when finding a book to take home with them. I hear from many Little Free Library stewards that children’s books are the first to fly off the shelves, especially in the summertime when kids have limited access to school libraries.</p>
<p>Kids are also some of the most enthusiastic participants in the <a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclub/" target="_blank">Action Book Club</a>, a new initiative from Little Free Library that combines reading with positive service projects. We like to think of it as “good reads and good deeds.”</p>
<h2>Introducing the Action Book Club</h2>
<p>The Action Book Club invites kids (or adults!) to get excited about reading and give back to their communities. Here’s how it works:</p>
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<p><strong>Sign up your club:</strong> Members of your Action Book Club can be friends, classmates, family, and more. <a href="http://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubsignup/" target="_blank">Fill out our form here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Read a book:</strong> Select a book for your group to read from the Action Book Club’s <a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubrecommendedreading/" target="_blank">list of recommendations</a>, or choose a book of your own. Read, enjoy, and discuss it.</p>
<p><strong>Take action:</strong> Carry out a positive community service project with your group. <a href="http://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubresources/" target="_blank">Select an activity from our list</a> or get creative.</p>
<p><strong>Share your story:</strong> After you’ve finished your project, tell us about it for our <a href="http://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubstories/" target="_blank">Action Book Club Stories</a>. By sharing your experience, you will inspire more good deeds across the country and the globe!</p>
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<p>“The strength of the Action Book Club is sharing our stories together,” says Todd H. Bol, founder and executive director of Little Free Library. “It’s the beautiful voice of books and community in action to make things better; it’s showing we can make a difference. There are some 60,000 Little Free Libraries around the world — can you imagine 60,000 Action Book Club stories inspiring a ripple effect of good deeds?”</p>
<p>Our first Action Book Club theme, “<a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/action-book-club-good-neighbors-reading/" target="_blank">Good Neighbors</a>,” led to a number of fantastic do-good projects. Here’s a sample of some of my favorites:</p>
<ul>
<li>An elementary school in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, read the book <em>Last Stop on Market Street </em>by Matt de la Peña then collected new socks for a local homeless shelter. “This was such a rewarding experience where we all had an important part of the ‘action,’” says parent volunteer Alysson Foti Bourque. “All the kids worked together to help the community in need, and the shelters were so thankful for the kind gesture.”</li>
<li>A third-grade classroom in Cleveland, Ohio, read the book <em>Look Where We Live! A First Book of Community Building</em> by Scot Ritchie and started a school recycling program. “After walking around the school, taking inventory, and asking questions, we noticed a lot of waste of resources in our school. We found out that our school does not have a recycling program,” says teacher Robin Palmore. “We signed up at Pepsico Recycling and began to recycle water bottles. We set a goal for 15,000 bottles.”</li>
<li>A mom and her two young sons, Harald and Theodore, of Bellingham, Washington, prove that an Action Book Club doesn’t have to have a lot of members. The group of three read <em>Last Stop on Market Street</em>, then set up a lemonade stand that collected donations for their local aquarium. “I thought it would be fun, and it was!” says Harald. “I really like the aquarium. I might want to be a marine biologist when I grow up.”</li>
<li>Another club in Ventura, California, read <em>What’s the Buzz, Honeybee</em>? by Robin J. Smith, and gave away wildflower seeds to help restore bee populations. This group emphasizes that thinking small is a great way to start out. “You don’t need a large group, and you don’t need a huge project. Think of the ‘butterfly effect’ and how small changes can really help,” Smith says.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Action Book Club Celebrates Diversity – Plus a Book Giveaway!</h2>
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<p>At the American Library Association conference in Chicago last week, we announced the Action Book Club’s new theme, “<strong>Many Voices</strong>,” which celebrates diversity, our differences, and the similarities that connect us all</p>
<p>The <a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubrecommendedreading/" target="_blank">recommended reading list</a> &nbsp;includes selections for every age group. The young readers’ list features diverse books like <em>Thunder Boy Junior </em>by Sherman Alexie, <em>A Different Pond </em>by Bao Phi, and <em>I’m New Here</em> by Anne Sibley O'Brien.</p>
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<p>“Why are diverse books essential?” asks O’Brien. “Because our minds make associations based on what we feed them. We need authentic representations of ourselves in order to build healthy, resilient identities, and we need positive encounters with people whose experiences are different from ours in order to build empathy and connection. Diverse books can provide both.”</p>
<p><img alt="Prairie Du Chien" src="/images/blogs/LFL-prairie.jpg" /></p>
<p>To kick off the new theme, we’re providing free books from our <a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubrecommendedreading/" target="_blank">recommended reading list</a> to ten new groups that sign up to be Action Book Clubs. <strong>Signing up your group is easy — just fill out the simple form </strong><a href="https://littlefreelibrary.org/actionbookclubsignup/" target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a><strong>.</strong> Book winners will be chosen at random from sign-ups through <strong>July 15</strong>; limit ten copies per group. All groups that sign up will receive a welcome kit.</p>
<p>Be a part of the ripple effect of good deeds. Get your kids, family, or friends involved and join the Action Book Club today!</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/afterschool-and-community-programs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Afterschool and Community Programs</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/childrens-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Children&#039;s books</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/libraries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Libraries</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/multicultural" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Multicultural</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-together" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading together</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/summer-reading" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Summer reading</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/tutoring-volunteering" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Tutoring &amp; volunteering</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Fri, 07 Jul 2017 17:18:44 +0000tchovanec141332 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/join-little-free-library-s-action-book-club-and-you-could-win-free-books#commentsA Taste of Naturehttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/taste-nature
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>A Taste of Nature</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-07-05T15:45:00-04:00">July 5, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><div class="imgleft">
<div class="left"><img src="/images/blogs/taste-nature.jpg" width="210" /></div>
<div class="right">
<p>The sense of wonder that nature provides is exactly the curiosity you want your child to bring to a book. Even if you are limited to exploring your backyard or the local park, there are many simple ways to&nbsp;spend enjoyable times reading and learning together in the great outdoors.</p>
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<h2>Go on a booknic</h2>
<p>Make room in the picnic basket for books! Choose a <a href="http://www.startwithabook.org/booklists/cooking-and-food" target="_blank">theme</a> around family food and reading preferences and pack accordingly. Try:</p>
<ul>
<li>Honey grahams with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winnie-Pooh-Winnie-Pooh-Book-ebook/dp/B002ZODPOM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498844546&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=winnie+the+pooh" target="_blank">Winnie-the-Pooh</a> in the Hundred Acre Wood</li>
<li>Bread and jam with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Jam-Frances-Read-Level/dp/0060838000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498844499&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=bread+and+jam" target="_blank">Bread and Jam for Frances</a> by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/015201036X/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z</a> by&nbsp;Lois Ehlert with a taste of&nbsp;fruits and vegetables from around the world</li>
<li>Soybeans along with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1600604420/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic</a> by Ginnie Lo</li>
</ul>
<h2>Flashlight reading</h2>
<p>For younger kids with earlier bedtimes, the excitement of getting to go outside at night will make a bedtime story mighty&nbsp;memorable. Get your flashlight, blankets or a sleeping bag&nbsp;and enjoy a story about stars under the stars. Try:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068971730X/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Her Seven Brothers</a>&nbsp;by Paul Goble</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1442422491/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Stars</a> by Mary Lyn Ray</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0064450023/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">The Sky Is Full of Stars</a> by Franklyn Branley</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0395244188/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Find the Constellations&nbsp;</a>by H.A. Rey</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068815218X/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">How Many Stars in the Sky?</a> by Lenny Hort</li>
</ul>
<h2>Outdoor cooking</h2>
<p>You can also pair your booknic and flashing reading with another element: outdoor cooking! With a fire pit or grill, treat your child to a little campfire cooking. Try:</p>
<ul>
<li>Toasting marshmallows along with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/061804597X/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems</a> by Kristine O'Connell George</li>
<li>Roasting hot dogs and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Enough-Stories-Rookie-Reader-Treasuries/dp/0531217280" target="_blank">Quite Enough Hot Dogs and Other Silly Stories</a> (Scholastic)</li>
<li>Roasting corn on the cob and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802723624/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&amp;me=" target="_blank">Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share</a> by Kevin O'Malley</li>
</ul>
<p>What are you waiting for? It’s a beautiful day! Head outside with books and activate all your kids’ senses.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/background-knowledge" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Background knowledge</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/childrens-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Children&#039;s books</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/parent-engagement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Parent engagement</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-together" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading together</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/summer-reading" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Summer reading</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Wed, 05 Jul 2017 19:45:01 +0000tchovanec141325 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/book-life/taste-nature#commentsReading Aloud to Kids and Why Lessons Need Purposeshttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/reading-aloud-kids-and-why-lessons-need-purposes
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Reading Aloud to Kids and Why Lessons Need Purposes</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-06-15T16:45:00-04:00">June 15, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><strong>Teacher question:</strong></p>
<p><i>Teachers in grades 3, 4 and 5 spend weeks and weeks (like 5-6) reading aloud chapter books to their students. In some classrooms, students have a copy of the book. Is there research that speaks to the effectiveness of a read-aloud over a period of time? </i></p>
<p><i>Does student interest wane after two weeks or so? </i></p>
<p><i>Are there ways to think strategically about read aloud time ... to incorporate instruction? </i></p>
<p><i>What do we want students to know and be able to do as a result of a read aloud in this context? </i></p>
<p><i>How can we structure close reading of passages for struggling readers along the way? </i></p>
<p><strong>Shanahan's response: </strong></p>
<p>I’ll answer this one with a proverb: “Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.” </p>
<p>You might be surprised by how often I get this kind of question from educators: We are doing something as part of reading instruction … could you tell us why it is good to do that?”</p>
<p>This is backward. Professional action needs to be purposeful. As the proverb suggests, instructional action with no clear learning purpose can be a nightmare for kids!</p>
<p>I know this isn’t a new point — but it is a darn good one. Years ago, Walter Doyle (1983) gathered the research revealing how activity-bound teachers tend to be, and how purposeless these activities usually are. He argued for a greater focus on learning than on implementing particular instructional routines.</p>
<p>Even earlier, Benjamin Bloom advanced his soon-to-be-famous taxonomy to focus attention on learning within teaching — to guide teachers to focus their lessons on specific, meaningful learning objectives. Accordingly, his objectives emphasize outcomes, not inputs; the idea being that once you were committed to teaching a particular objective you would select activities that would have a reasonable possibility of accomplishing that objective.</p>
<p>Or, how about this quote from a school superintendent from the minutes of the National Education Association … (in 1909!):</p>
<p>“The teacher must have an objective point in every lesson . Inattention is too often encouraged by inefficient, aimless, purposeless teaching. The lesson without a definite purpose may well be omitted. (J. Koontz, 1909, p. 191).</p>
<p>With great regularity I am asked why teachers are being read to, why kids are reading aloud in class, why reading workshop is being used, why guided reading is a good idea, why teachers need 20 minutes per day of free reading time, why teachers need to use end of lesson basal reader tests and so on … Nothing wrong with any of those questions, but so often they are being asked by the teachers who are doing these things or by the administrators who are ordering them to do them.</p>
<p>Reading directors who have decided to commit their teachers to an instructional practice frequently contact me to find out if there is any research supporting that practice. They have already decided the practice must be implemented — a decision made without any evidence. But they want evidence to fend off any naysayers who don’t want to implement the particular practice. Research to them is apparently not a light, but a bludgeon.</p>
<p>The question being asked in this case is whether reading chapter books to upper elementary students is effective. My question back is, “Effective at what?</p>
<p>Effectiveness can only be evaluated against a clear purpose and as readers can see, there is no such purpose specified. The teachers are already committed to such reading, and they would sure like some research support. (Or, someone is trying seeking evidence to try to persuade them to be less committed to the unexplained activity).</p>
<p>If the question is, does reading books to older students improve their reading ability? I can answer definitely that there is no research either supporting or rejecting this idea, but that is rather unlikely. There are studies with primary age kids that indicate having kids read rather than being read to is the better way to improved reading achievement (Sénéchal &amp; Young, 2008).</p>
<p>Studies show that reading aloud to preschoolers increases their vocabulary (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). This makes sense (even with older kids) since meaningful exposure to new words — reading on one’s own, watching media, having new social experiences — all contribute to that. (The one study of reading to older kids that I know of, found that they were more familiar with words from the texts than were kids who were not exposed to those texts).</p>
<p>However, none of the studies with younger children showed transfer from vocabulary improvement to better reading, and the tests that showed vocabulary improvement are not particularly related to reading achievement.</p>
<p>That shouldn’t be too surprising since the vocabulary gains would be with words from the particular books — rather than a general improvement in vocabulary. Such learning would only impact comprehension when students were reading texts that used these particular words. </p>
<p>Of course, reading aloud to kids certainly must expand their knowledge of the world, if the texts include information or ideas that the kids don’t yet know. If someone reads a science chapter to me about genetics, I am likely to gain some info on genetics. This is so stunningly obvious and so consistent with experience (e.g., television news commentators read news, sports and weather “stories” to us on a daily basis) that no one has ever bothered to test it.</p>
<p>Reading aloud can also stimulate an interest in reading. Kids sometimes hear their teacher reading a book and then try to read it on their own. We don’t know how much this really happens, but I certainly have experienced it as a teacher and parent. Having kids following along with such reading can have some impact on reading fluency, but that is typically done with shorter pieces and involves the kids in trying to read the modeled text aloud. That doesn’t sound like the case here.</p>
<p>If you are requiring that teachers read aloud books with the idea that this will improve student comprehension or build their knowledge of the world or expand their vocabularies or increase their fluency or even foster improved reading motivation in some measurable way, then I suspect that reading a chapter book aloud to the kids over several weeks may not be the best way to go — since there are so many more powerful alternatives towards each of those outcomes. </p>
<p>I would suggest that you figure out what you are trying to accomplish, then consider the alternative ways that this might be done … selecting the most powerful avenues you can find. Sometimes that might be reading a chapter book to the kids, but other choices might win out as well.</p>
<p>Personally, I never taught a day in the primary grades in which I did not read aloud to kids. I didn’t do this as part of my reading instruction, however.</p>
<p>It was just an effective way of fostering a positive tone in my classroom; a closeness between the children and me. I didn’t do this in place of strategy lessons or what is now referred to as close reading. I did it because I love books and wanted to share a bit of that love with the kids I was teaching. (There are other ways of accomplishing that goal as well, but reading aloud to the kids was a way that I could do this.) If I were back in the elementary saddle again, I would probably make the same choice; but that activity would in no way be allowed to reduce my instruction in decoding, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, or writing. I hope it doesn’t for your teachers either.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/background-knowledge" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Background knowledge</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/comprehension" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Comprehension</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/vocabulary" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vocabulary</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Thu, 15 Jun 2017 20:52:22 +0000tchovanec141259 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/reading-aloud-kids-and-why-lessons-need-purposes#commentsAn Interview with Author Erica Perlhttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/page-page/interview-author-erica-perl
<div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>An Interview with Author Erica Perl</h2></div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-pub-date field-type-datetime field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Publication date:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2017-04-04T16:15:00-04:00">April 4, 2017</span></div></div></section><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><img align="left" alt="Erica Perl" src="/images/blogs/erica-perl.jpg" /></p>
<p>A native of Vermont, Erica S. Perl now lives in Washington, D.C., where she writes a range of books for young readers. She has done very funny picture books, novels for middle grade as well as books for young adults, and most recently a novel in play form,</p>
<p><strong>Your book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Capybara-Conspiracy-Novel-Three-Acts/dp/0399551719/readingrockets-20" target="”_blank”">The Capybara Conspiracy</a> (Knopf) is subtitled "A Novel in Three Acts." It’s a very funny story set in a sports-crazed middle school with a large rodent as its mascot. Tell us a bit more about the plot and the story’s background.</strong></p>
<p>The book is about four middle school students — Olive, Reynaldo, Brie, and Pablo — who all feel ignored and unappreciated by their school. Olive is an aspiring playwright, Reynaldo is her best friend, Brie is an animal rights activist, and Pablo is a recent immigrant from the Dominican Republic. They decide to make a statement by kidnapping their school mascot, Cappy the capybara (an actual capybara, which is a giant, hairy rodent), which does not go as planned and leads to giant, hairy problems for all of them.</p>
<p><strong>You seem to capture the range of tones we hear from middle schoolers, ranging from snarky to funny to wise. Why and how did your ear become so attuned to this dialog?</strong></p>
<p>I genuinely like middle schoolers, and I guess the answer is: I try to listen to them (I do a lot of school visits and I lead writing workshops). They are uniquely funny and creative, so I tried to honor that by writing middle school characters who think and talk like real middle schoolers.</p>
<p><strong>Capybara ... is presented in play form complete with stage directions and suggestions for how dialog should be read. But it professes to be a novel. Talk about the form you used and why you chose it.</strong></p>
<p>I started out writing this book as a “regular” novel with four alternating perspectives, but I got really stuck and frustrated. I went for a run to clear my head, and I listened to an episode of This American Life’s podcast (in which Lin Manuel Miranda dramatized a previous story from their radio show), which totally changed my thinking on the book. I came home and started writing Olive’s chapters in play form — because she’s a playwright — and the book completely took off. I kept writing it that way because I was having fun and getting to know my characters so much better. I wasn’t sure if it was an exercise that would lead to a better “regular” novel or if I was writing the book itself. Ultimately, I got very excited about telling a story this way. I love theater, and did as a kid, so I saw the potential for kids to jump into this story like they do with graphic novels. And so far, the reaction I’ve seen has confirmed this. Kids get into this book.</p>
<p><strong>What prepared you to write a script for a play?</strong></p>
<p>I wrote, directed, and acted in plays in high school and college (and was a theater major before I took a turn and ended up concentrating on law and sociology). I also wrote scripts for an animated PBS program. And two of my picture books, <em>Chicken Butt!</em> and <em>Chicken Butt’s Back!</em> are written entirely in dialog, thus lending themselves to Readers’ Theater. I’m also a huge theater buff, with a great love for live theater and reading plays. So, I have studied the form and yearned to get back to it for years.</p>
<p><strong>How does writing a script differ from writing a traditional novel? </strong></p>
<p>So many ways! Everything has to be stated or implied on the page … you don’t have the luxury of living in your characters’ heads as you might in a traditional novel. Also, you need to think in 3D. So when I finished writing the text, I realized I needed to “stage” the book. This was for many reasons, like to ensure I didn’t give characters lines when they were not onstage, and to make sure all the action didn’t happen in one spot. I went on to workshop the book with a group of sixth and seventh graders, but my first “cast” was a bunch of desk ornaments (mostly chickens … I have a lot of chickens) I labeled with character names and moved around my desk while reading their lines aloud. It was extremely instructive, I have to say!</p>
<p><strong>What recommendations would you make to young readers who wanted to perform the Capybara Conspiracy?</strong></p>
<p>Have fun with it! I put stage directions and additional theater resources in the book and more can be found on my <a href="https://www.ericaperl.com" target="_blank">website</a>. And now, thanks to Linda Vars, the director of the Newport Children’s Theater, I now have two short adapted versions of the book that are perfect for students looking for a one-act version to stage (reach out to me through my website if you’d like to see them). But you can also perform the entire book — as a fully staged play or as a Reader’s Theater performance — or you can create your own adaptation. Just let me know, as I am very interested in keeping track of all the cool and creative things kids are doing with it.</p>
<p><strong>Close to the time Capybara was published, a picture book about another rodent was released. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ferocious-Fluffity-Mighty-Bite-y-Class/dp/1419721828/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Ferocious Fluffity: A Mighty Bite-y Class Pet</a> (illustrated by Henry Cole (Abrams). This story about a class pet run-amok is set in a second grade class. Tell us about Fluffity’s backstory. </strong></p>
<p>Ferocious Fluffity is based on two animals: Pinky, a classroom hamster my family hosted for the weekend that famously bit me the moment I touched her, and Violet, a guinea pig my younger daughter once had who bit everyone. I love animals, as you’ll see from all of my books, and I wanted to tell the story of a cranky little hamster who is just plain misunderstood. As the kids in the book finally realize, Fluffity needs exercise and stimulation, but above all she needs her space … really! That’s what Pinky and Violet were probably trying to tell us … but they were so cute that at first, like the kids in the book, we just didn’t pay attention to their needs. I think many little kids feel this way sometimes, so that realization added another layer to the story.</p>
<p><strong>This is the third book you’ve worked with illustrator, Henry Cole (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810983257/readingrockets-20" target="_blank">Chicken Butt</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810997290/readingrockets-2" target="_blank">Chicken Butt’s Back</a> (both Abrams). Often, publishers keep writers and artists apart. Tell us how it was working with an illustrator you know.</strong></p>
<p>Henry and I worked on <em>Chicken Butt!</em> and <em>Chicken Butt’s Back!</em> before we knew each other, but after we met and became friends, we were eager to do more books together. I showed him my draft of <em>Ferocious Fluffity</em> and he was excited to illustrate it, so we were both thrilled when our publisher said yes. I have to say that even though the traditional way of making books is for author and illustrator to stay far apart, I like collaborating so much more … and I think it leads to great books and wonderful moments of serendipity and synergy. Sometimes, I’ll notice where Henry’s art is carrying the story, and I’ll take words out because they aren’t needed anymore. Or I’ll change a line to riff on something funny he put in a picture. And the best part is, if we’re in the same place, we can do this over coffee!</p>
<p>For more information about Erica, take a look at the <a href="http://readingrockets.org/books/interviews/perl">video interview</a> on Reading Rockets (and a <a href="http://www.readingrockets.org/authors/erica-s-perl">selected list of her books</a>) or visit her <a href="http://www.ericaperl.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p>
<p>Many thanks, Erica! And to all of Erica’s fans and readers, look for her next book!</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-field-tag-cloud field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Tag cloud:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/authors-illustrators" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Authors &amp; illustrators</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/childrens-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Children&#039;s books</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/classroom-strategies" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Classroom strategies</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/fluency" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fluency</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/keywords/oral-language" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Oral Language</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/keywords/reading-aloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Reading aloud</a></li></ul></section><section class="field field-name-field-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above view-mode-rss"><h2 class="field-label">Featured?:&nbsp;</h2><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">featured on homepage?</div></div></section>Tue, 04 Apr 2017 20:30:19 +0000tchovanec140923 at http://www.readingrockets.orghttp://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/page-page/interview-author-erica-perl#comments